IBM to buy data company Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 bn

IBM, whose healthcare unit is powered by the famous Watson supercomputer, will get access to more than 8,500 clients from the deal.Reuters | February 19, 2016, 09:23 IST

International Business Machines Corp said it would buy Truven Health Analytics, a provider of cloud-based healthcare data, for $2.6 billion, the company's fourth major health-related acquisition since launching the Watson Health unit in April last year.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Truven offers healthcare data and analytics solutions to U.S. federal and state government agencies, employers, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

IBM, whose healthcare unit is powered by the famous Watson supercomputer, will get access to more than 8,500 clients from the deal.

"With this acquisition, IBM will be the world's leading health data, analytics and insights company," Deborah DiSanzo, general manager for Watson Health said in a statement on Thursday.

IBM, which has been expanding aggressively in the healthcare IT sector, bought medical image company Merge Healthcare in a $1 billion deal in October.

In March, Reuters reported that Truven was preparing for an initial public offering it hoped would value the company at more than $3 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.